Dr Olivia Carter
BA; BSc(Hons); PhD
Senior Lecturer & NHMRC CDA Research Fellow
Contact details:
| email: ocarter AT unimelb.edu.au | |
Ph: +61 3 8344 6372 / Rm 811 Redmond Barry Bldg
|
“How does the brain generate a conscious experience?” The majority of my research is motivated by this general question. There are a million different ways to address this question, but most of my work focuses on ambiguous stimuli and other illusions that involve big perceptual changes or large parts of an image disappearing completely. One striking example is binocular rivalry, a phenomenon that occurs when different stimuli are presented to the left and right eye simultaneously. Despite the fact that the two images are always being presented, people generally report only seeing one of the images at a time because the other image is completely suppressed from awareness. Another illusion that generates complete perceptual suppression is Motion Induced Blindness (click here for MIB demonstration).
The second focus of my research aims to address the question of "how does the brain's natural chemicals control complex behaviours, thoughts and perceptions." I am interested in this question both from the perspective of the underlying neurobiological mechanisms and also in respect to the neuroethical issues that arise with drug development.
Research Interests:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Perception (Vision, Auditory & Tactile)
- Attention
- Working Memory
- Decision Making
- Clinical Neuroscience
- Perception and Cognition in Psychiatric populations
- Methods used
- Psychophysics
- Psychopharmacology
- Genetics
- Brain Imaging (fMRI, MEG & EEG)
Professional Associations & Memberships:
- Affiliated Research Fellow, Martinos Center, Dept of Radiology, MGH/Harvard.
- Executive Director, Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness
- Member, Australian Neuroscience Society
- Member, Society for Neuroscience
- Member, Vision Science Society
Awards & Fellowships:
- Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, (2005)
- NHMRC, CJ Martin Overseas Training Fellowship, (2006-2010)
- Early Career Research Grant, University of Melbourne, (2008)
- NHMRC, Career Development Award (2010 – 2014)
Selected Publications:
Book Chapters:
Pettigrew, J. & Carter, O. (2002) Vision as motivation: interhemispheric oscillation alters perception. Adv Exp Med Biol 508: 461 9
Pettigrew, J. & Carter, O. (2004) Perceptual Rivalry as an Ultradian Oscillation. In: Binocular rivalry. (Eds.) David Alais and Randolph Blake, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Cocchi, L., Zalesky, A., Toepel, U., Whitford, J., De Lucia, M., Murray, M. & Carter, O (2011) Dynamic changes in brain functional connectivity during concurrent dual-task performance. PLoS ONE. 6(11): e28301 1-9 [PDF]
McKendrick, A., Battista, J., Snyder, J. & Carter, O (2011) Visual and auditory perceptual rivalry in migraine. Cephalalgia 31(11):58-69 [PDF]
Stanley, J., Forte, J., Cavanagh, P. & Carter, O. (2011) Onset rivalry: the initial dominance phase is independent of ongoing perceptual alternations. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 5:140 [PDF]
Kometer, M., Cahn, B., Andel, D., Carter, O. & Vollenweider, F. (2011) 5-HT2A/1A agonist psilocybin disrupts modal object completion associated with visual hallucinations. Biological Psychiatry 69(5): 399-406.[PDF]
Stanley, J., Carter, O. & Forte, J. (2011) Color and luminance influence, but can not explain, binocular rivalry onset bias PLoS ONE 6(5): e18978 1-9 [PDF]
Cocchi, L., Toepel, U., De Lucia, M., Martuzzi, R., Wood, S., Carter, O. & Murray, M., (2011) Working memory load improves early stages of independent visual processing. Neuropsychologia 49(1): 92-102. [PDF]
Einhäuser, W., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2010) Pupil dilation betrays the timing of decisions. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 4(18): 1-9. [PDF]
Snyder, J., Holder, W. T., Weintraub, D., Carter, O. & Alain, C. (2009) Effects of prior stimulus and prior perception on neural correlates of auditory stream segregation. Psychophysiology, 46(6): 1208-15. [PDF]
Snyder, J., Carter, O., Hannon, E. & Alain. C. (2009) Adaptation reveals multiple levels of representation in auditory stream segrigation. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform. 35(4): 1232-1244 [PDF]
Naber, M., Carter, O., & Verstraten, F. (2009) Suppression wave dynamics: visual field anisotropies and inducer strength. Vision Research. 49(14): 1805-13 [PDF]
Cocchi, L., Bosisio, F., Carter, O., Wood, S., Berchtold, A., Conus, P., Orita, A., Debbané, M. & Schenk, F. (2009) Visuospatial working memory deficits and visual pursuit impairments are not directly related in schizophrenia. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 43:766-74. [PDF]
Carter, O., Konkle, T., Wang, Q., Hayward, V. & Moore, C. (2008) Tactile rivalry demonstrated with ambiguous apparent motion quartet. Current Biology 18(4):1050-54. [PDF]
Einhäuser, W., Stout, J., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2008) Reply to Hupé et al.: The predictive correlation of pupil dilation and relative dominance duration in rivalry is not a statistical artifact. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 105:E44. [PDF]
Snyder, J., Carter, O., Lee, S.K., Hannon, E. & Alain. C. (2008) Effects of Context on Auditory Stream Segregation. J Exp Psychol: Hum Percept Perform. 34(4):1007-16. [PDF]
Einhäuser, W., Stout, J., Koch, C. & Carter, O. (2008) Pupil dilation reflects perceptual selection and predicts subsequent stability in perceptual rivalry. Proc Natl Acad Sci 105(5): 1704-1709. [PDF]
Carter, O. & Cavanagh, P. (2007)Onset rivalry: Brief presentation isolates an early independent phase of perceptual competition PLoS ONE 2(4): e343. 1-7. [PDF]
Carter, O., Hasler, F., Pettigrew, J.D., Wallis, G., Liu, G. B. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2007) Psilocybin links binocular rivalry switch rate to attention and subjective arousal levels in humans. Psychopharmacology 195: 415-424. [PDF]
Wittmann, M., Carter, O., Grimberg, U., Hasler, F., Cahn, R., Hell, D., Flohr, H. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2007) Effects of psilocybin on time perception and temporal control of behaviour in humans. J Psychopharmacology 21(1): 50-64.[PDF]
Carter, O., Burr, D., Pettigrew, J. D., Wallis, G. M., Hasler, F. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2005) Using psilocybin to investigate the relationship between attention, working memory and the Serotonin1A and 2A receptors. J Cog Neuroscience 17(10): 1497 150. [PDF]
Carter, O., Presti, D., Callistemon, C., Liu, G. B., Ungerer, Y. & Pettigrew, J. D. (2005) Meditation Alters Perceptual Rivalry in Tibetan Buddhist Monks. Current Biology 15(11): R412-R413 [PDF]
Carter, O., Pettigrew, J., Hasler, F. & Wallis, G., Liu, G. B., Hell, D., & Vollenweider, F. X. (2005) Modulating the rate and rhythmicity of perceptual rivalry alternations with the mixed 5-HT2A and 5-HT1A agonist psilocybin. Neuropsychopharmacology 30: 1154-1162. [PDF]
Carter, O., Pettigrew, J., Burr, D., Alais, D., Hasler, F. & Vollenweider, F. X. (2004) Psilocybin impairs high-level but not low-level motion perception. Neuroreport 15 (12): 1947-1951. [PDF]
Carter, O., Campbell, T., Liu, G. B. & Wallis, G. (2004) Contradictory influence of context on predominance during binocular rivalry. Clin Exp Optom 87 (3): 153-162. [PDF]
Carter, O. & Pettigrew, J. (2003) A Common Oscillator for Perceptual Rivalries? Perception 32 (3): 295-305. [Abstract]
Popular Media Articles
Carter, O. (2011)What if you could give your kids some really good drugs? The Punch.
Carter, O. (2011) Drugs to enhance us will enchant us … especially if there are no side effects The Conversation.
Lab Members:
Jody Stanley (PhD student – cosupervised by Suresh Sundram)
Anna Antinori (PhD student – cosupervised by Philip Smith)
Virginia Liu (PhD student – cosupervised by Luca Cocchi & Christos Pantelis)
Hayley Darke (MPsych/PhD student – cosupervised by Simon Cropper)
Jared Horvath (PhD student – cosupervised by Jason Forte & Mary Ainley)
Sally Grant (PhD student – Primary Supervisor Simon Cropper)
Sacha Stokes (MPsych/PhD – Primary Supervisor Peter Anderson)